Megatron's Island
by evilgreenman
Summary: This is a Megatron story set loosely in the G1 season two continuity of the cartoon.  What happens when Megatron washes up on a beach, critically damaged and all alone except for one young earth girl?  Read and find out!


MEGATRON'S ISLAND

BY EVILGREENMAN

Megatron washed up on the beach as the sun shone brightly down from high in the sky. His dead eyes sparked to life.

"Attack! A-" he stopped as he realized he was lying face down in the sand. He lifted his head and chest then growled in pain. Looking down he saw buckled plating around his midsection. Black char surrounded a jagged hole with wires split and hanging loose. A thick purple ooze of energon pulsed from the wound.

"No," he said, rolling to his back, grasping at the wound. He looked left and right, trying to understand his locale. A beach. Island? Must be, there was no inland he could see. It was a very small island as well, it seemed. Isolated, alone - in a very large body of water. More energon pulsed out onto the sand.

"Gah!"

No sign of life close by meant no means of rescue any time soon. He checked his right arm for his cannon. Thankfully it was still attached. He powered it up to a white hot glow then pressed it deep into the wound.

"AAAAHHHHHH!"

The wires, tubes and steel fused together. The energon flow stopped. Megatron fell, his eyes midnight dark.

. . .

Three days later, Megatron woke again, on the same beach. This time his eyes slowly faded in to a half glow. He said nothing. Pushing his elbows back, he twisted and examined the wound. His shell was still cracked wide open but the cauterized bundle of metal guts held the energon in. How much was left? Less than 1% his total capacity. In fact, he was running on reserve power already. For rescue, he needed to send a burst signal on the Decepticon hidden frequency. It would be…embarrassing. And in his current state he could not do that – not enough power. He would not have that option until his total capacity was at least 5%. All Decepticons were hard wired that way as any that let themselves get below that in power were not fit for the Deception Empire unless they could drag themselves to cover, safety, repair, etc. And to be sure, 5% was absurdly, dangerously low…for other Decepticons. There was a pride in pushing oneself that far and surviving. Megatron had done it many times. Others? He'd seen Starscream abandon battle at 20%. Coward. And of the burst signal, there was also that: Starscream. Wouldn't he love getting a distress signal from 'Mighty' Megatron. Megatron's eyes flashed. Then he was still. Starscream was the least of his worries now. For the matter at hand, for his next step, it was simple: he'd have to wait. He could absorb some level of energy from the sun during daylight hours. And that was it – the only option. The good news was perhaps as much as .25% energy would recharge from a full day. Maybe .50. Hardly a power bath but what choice did he have? Scanning the horizon in front of him, he saw the sun already sinking for the day.

Starscream. That blasted coward.

It was the last thought before he decided to shut down. In that state he didn't have any thoughts.

. . .

"Hello?"

Megatron's eyes flicked on at half power. Had he heard - ?

"Hello, mister."

Standing before him was a young girl in a simple dress.

Megatron looked around and saw nothing different in his surroundings. No boat. No plane. No helicopter. Who was this girl?

"Human girl. Who are you? How did you get here?" He slid up the beach cautiously, sitting up and holding his wound. He was ready for ambush.

"I am Miko. Who are you?"

"I am Lord Megatron, leader of the..." Megatron tried quickly to stand and stumbled, rolling onto his side with his face crashing down into the sand.

Megatron lift and reached and dug until he was lying on his back again. He strained and finally was propped up again.

"…Mighty Decepticons."

The girl stared.

"How did you get here, girl?" Megatron scanned the horizon again. "Is there an attack waiting?"

The girl tilted her head to the side.

"Answer my question, fleshling. HOW DID YOU GET HERE?"

Miko grabbed at her upper lip. She extended her foot against the bottom of Megatron's. She was hardly as tall as his foot was long.

"You busted?"

Megatron leaned his head forward and cocked it to the side.

"What?" he said.

"Busted ro-bot, busted ro-bot!"

As rage flashed in his eyes, Megatron heaved his foot at the girl. Or tried to. It moved…one inch. The girl giggled.

"You mock me? Mighty Megatron?"

Miko smiled and tilted her head to the other side.

"No one mocks Megatron."

Megatron raised his cannon at Miko and locked in his aim. Miko pointed her own finger out like a hand gun and closed one eye.

"You're toy song will be the last thing you ever say, human girl."

There was a very tiny click followed by a warbly fizzle. A thin wisp of smoke eased upward from the barrel. His arm fell to the ground and he fell on his side. He grunted. Miko ran over to him and sat on his arm cannon as it lay splayed out away from his body.

"Yep, you're busted."

He was. The last of his reserve was gone. Even trying to cycle up his weapon again had used up the meager energy he had stored up. He would shut down now whether he liked it or not. Hopefully he'd absorb enough sun to power up in another day or two. Or three.

"You...insolent...flesh..." He could not finish. It was three days later when he awoke.

. . .

Three days later, the first thing he saw was Miko, sitting cross legged on his chest.

"Good afternoon, Lord Megatron. How are you?"

"Get off of me you vermin!" He raised his arm to push her away but she was quick and nimble. She stood, grabbed his arm and used it to vault off of his chest and land beside him.

"I brought a battery," she said.

As usual with this girl, Megatron was perplexed. As she stood next to him, she still held onto his arm with her hand. Her chin barely made it above his chest and he had to crane his own neck to see her eye to eye.

"What are you talking about, girl?" he asked.

"And some tape," she added, holding up a silver, shining roll. "We need to fix your head."

"My head?" Megatron asked. What was wrong with his head? His internal scans were blank on the matter. Most of his internals were completely blown out. What is the girl had seen? How damaged was he?

"You are annoying," he began, looking out across the ocean. "I should kill you for your impertinence. However, it would not be killing. You don't rank high enough for that. Would you call it killing to swat at one of this worlds flies? Quieting one of your insects would not be killing, would it?"

Miko walked up to Megatron's head, behind it and past his vision.

"Your head is busted."

Cognitive dissonance. His brain simply could not understand what was happening in any conventional way. His 'head was busted'. This tiny earth girl was assessing him. Trying to help him? He had no earthly context with which to compare his current events. He wasn't being lectured by Prime, that sanctimonious blow hard. That was easy to react to – he'd shut him up. And he wasn't being mocked by Starscream. Again, he knew how to deal with that – demonstrate his superiority to quiet the loud mouth. And what if there really were something wrong with his head? He would have ordered his subordinates to fix him. Immediately. But what to do with this girl? He did not know. This was uncharted territory.

"Girl," he said, turning to look at her. He couldn't find her. "Where are you?" He heard a loud ripping sound just above his head and felt a light touch against his head.

"Repairing you, Lord Megatron." Another rip and more jostling.

Megatron felt he should react, react quite strongly, yet he still had no frame of reference for reaction. Rescue would still be..how long? He calculated in his mind…ten earth days until he got send his signal. Ten? At least. And his best course of action until then was to expend as little energy as possible so that he could send the signal sooner. As for this girl, he was still at a loss. Should he kill her? It was an interesting question given that currently, he could not. He did not have enough energy. So at the moment, it was irrelevant. It still bothered him though. Why was he even thinking of it AS killing? She WAS an insect, relatively speaking. Had he been around these humans too long? Had it contaminated his thinking?

"Done!" she said, holding just a small brown ring that the tape had been wrapped around. "You look glorious Lord Megatron. It's like you have a hair-do now."

Megatron frowned, his reverie broken.

"Girl, I have ten days until I can send a signal and be gone from this forsaken place. The sand grinds my gears, the water threatens to corrode my internals. I have no knowledge of nor interest in 'hair-do's'. Nor anything else you have an interest in."

The girl walked down to his chest again. She bent, greatly struggled and helped up an old car battery.

"Here's a battery."

Megatron eyed her.

"Are you listening to me?"

Miko trudged and lifted the battery up onto Megaton's torso, dropped it next to his fused innards.

"Can we put it in there? To fix you?"

Megatron looked down and his annoyance flashed. SHE would fix HIM?

"I said," he began, lifting his arm, pinching the battery between his fingers "I don't CARE about what YOU have an interest in!" He flicked the battery and it tumbled away from him, down the beach.

Miko stood for a moment with wide eyes. She trembled and finally large round tears rolled down her face.

"YOU ARE A MEAN ROBOT!" she said loudly and firmly. She pointed at him. "That was hard for me to bring over! I was just trying to help! You don't have good manners!"

Megatron smiled, satisfied with his actions.

"Now you are beginning to understand, girl. Your standards do not apply to me. I do as I wish."

Miko kicked Megatron, turned and ran down the beach. His optics could only follow her so far and then she was gone.

Megatron felt a warm glow inside. So satisfying. That girl now understood what it meant to deal with Megatron.

The rest of the day passed with Megatron remaining pleased. He remembered past glories. Envisioned what he, at the lead of his legions, must have looked like to the small and defenseless. How strong he felt and how that must have appeared. Glorious. Absolutely glorious.

As the sun sank down, Megatron powered down with only happy, glorious thoughts. It was the last time he felt happy for some time.

. . .

The next morning came and Megatron's eyes lit up on schedule. He expected the bright sun, pleasure, happiness and to count the days until he'd signal for rescue. He did not get what he expected. The sky was dark to begin with. He checked his internal chronometer. It WAS morning. And then a BOOM and FLASH cracked the air. Suddenly the air turned to water, millions of drops, high velocity bullets bombarding his body in an all out assault.

"Girl!" he cried out, surprising himself. Of what use would she be? He turned his body to the side, shielding his wound as best he could. It was no use. The water pelted the sand, spraying it directly into his wound. Normally he'd have no fear of water. Any mechanism that was not sealed to the effects of water would not last long in this galaxy. But his shell had been cracked, his integrity compromised. And the lightning, the electricity. It was at once his lifeblood, his best friend and his worst enemy. In this state, he simply could not absorb, route and/or use the electricity at all. It would simply fry his circuits.

"Girl!' he cried again before realizing what he was doing. Megatron panicking? No!

Realizing the futility and feeling foolish he fully rolled over onto his front, burying the wound in the sand, burying himself as much as he could. Hopefully he had cauterized it enough that the water would not cause damage. Hopefully he'd leave as little of himself exposed as possible for a lightning strike. As for that sand, he'd have to wait and see. In those moments of fear and full blown terror, Megatron shut himself down. He put in an alarm, to awaken a day later. Hopefully, it would be a better day.

. . .

Twenty four hours later, Megatron powered on, just as scheduled. He pushed himself upwards, digging out of the sand. He turned over and took things in. The day was better, to an extent, but it was not good.

Surveying the sky, Megatron saw only gray. And it was raining again, this time a light drizzle. He scanned left, then right. And to the right, more clouds. Bigger, billowing, blowing and moving in. More rain, harder rain.

Looking down, Megatron was coated in thick layers of grime. His wound didn't just have sand in it, it was caked on, covered completely. Megatron checked his energy reserves. It was even. The same as when he had first woken up days ago. Only now he was in worse shape, in some ways.

"Girl!" he screamed. "I do not wish to be alone!" He bowed his head. That was the truth. Was he a coward? Above, the larger clouds moved in. They were darker than he had first seen. The rain increased. The wind whipped as lightning flashed. Megatron raised his arms against the storm.

"You think you can intimidate Megatron?" He held his arm cannon high, his body shaking. "You think—" Suddenly, lightning cut through the sky and struck the cannon, infusing Megatron's body with electricity, coursing through his system, over-loading it. Megatron froze and fell to the beach. He did not awaken again for many days.

. . .

"Hello?" Miko said, inches from Megatron's face. "Lord Megatron?"

Megatron's eyes dimly powered on. It was the girl.

She smiled.

"Hello, Lord Megatron!"

Megatron could not move.

"Can you move?" Miko asked.

With a great deal of strain, Megatron slighted shifted his head from side to side.

Miko laughed.

"Of course you can! You just did!"

Miko climbed up onto Megatron, sat down on him and took out a small wrapped sandwich.

"It's going to be sunny again," she said, taking a bite. "Will that help you?"

She looked down at Megatron's face. From where she sat and this point of view, she looked huge. She was his entire world. Perhaps his optics were much worse off than he realized. He checked his power and it was now at the lowest it had ever been. He should not even have consciousness at this level.

Miko took a piece of her sandwich and tore it off. She lightly set it down on Megatron's mouth.

"Nom, nom, nom!" she said. "Eat your sandwich and get better Megatron!"

Megatron's vision fogged over and pixilated. He could see nothing. He could sense nothing. He blacked out. When he awoke again he had no idea how much time had passed.

. . .

"Megatron!"

As always, his eyes lit up first. This time, they flicked on strongly. He sat up.

"Miko?" he said, seeing no one. His eyes darkened. What?

"Here I am!" she said, removing her hands from his eyes. "That was a long time!"

Anger seized him and this time he could move. His arms darted out and grabbed the girl, hoisting her up into the air.

"What are you doing covering my eyes?" he asked. She giggled.

"You're strong!" she said in reply.

Megatron held her there, in the air above him. He was holding her perhaps twice her height above ground level. She would be hurt by falling from this height. He checked his power levels. Four percent. Four percent?

"How long was I unconscious?" he asked.

"A week or so," Miko said. "Swing me around!"

Megatron looked at her, then at the ground. He placed her on it – neither too careful nor too rough. He looked down at his body. It was very clean. Spotless.

"How did I come to be this way?" he asked her, fully sitting up for the first time in what seemed ages.

Miko looked up at him.

"I think a lot of people were mean to you."

Megatron raised his arms halfway up and stopped.

"What?" he said.

Miko walked over and touched his leg.

"If people do mean things do you, you will do mean things to other people."

Megatron stood.

"I am not people! I am a Decepticon! Decepticon's are not mean! We are warriors!" Megatron took a few steps, shifting in the sand, carefully maintaining his balance. He pointed down at her. "And that's not what I was talking about!"

Miko walked over behind a tree and brought out a towel and a spray bottle.

"I cleaned you up," she said holding them up for him to see. "It took a really long time. You were very dirty."

Megatron's head tilted very slowly as a smile began. But it would not come to be. Megatron needed no one.

"I don't need you! You don't touch me!"

Miko's eyes grew wide then she threw down the cleaner.

"See – you ARE mean! I helped you and you are mean!"

Megatron stomped and nearly fell over.

" I am not 'mean'! Do not say that I am! I do what I was made to do! I fight! I conquer! I rule! I am Lord Megatron of—"

"Shut up!" Miko yelled. Her face was red. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!"

Miko marched over to Megatron and kicked him.

"I am Lord Megatron of blah, blah, blah. Who cares?" She stepped away. She started walking further away and then turned back.

"I wanted to be your friend."

Megatron looked at her and laughed.

"Friend? Megatron has no—"

"I know!" Miko yelled. "Lord Megatron has no friends! Bleah! Bleah, bleah, bleah! Bleah, bleah, bleah, bleah, bleah!"

Megatron paused. She was yelling now. At least he understood that. He did not, however, understand the word. He had a hunch though…

"Bleah?" he asked. "Is this…what is the meaning of the word 'bleah'?"

Miko scowled, crossed her arms.

"Bleah," she said.

Megatron cocked his head very slightly. She was angry. It was a nonsense word. She was mocking him. He stood for another moment. Who was it that loved to mock him? He turned and sat down on the beach. He looked out across the water.

"Friendship is an interesting thing," Megatron said, crossing his arms over his legs. Minutes passed until Miko slowly approached, wiping her tears away. She stopped some distance away and also sat down on the beach.

"Do you have any friends, Megatron?" she asked.

"Yes and no," he said, still staring out across the water. Part of him seemed to be somewhere very far away. "Decepticons do not have friends. We have allies, partners, acquaintances with a shared goal, comrades in arms – battle brothers."

Miko said nothing.

"I know…girl. They are not the same."

Megatron turned and faced her.

"The closest things I have to friends are a second in command that would murder me if he thought he could get away with it, a Commander of a lifeless planet who is so lonely he'd worship a broken circuit board if it would offer good conversation and lieutenants who are nothing but bullies and cowards, afraid to have anything like a will of their own."

Miko was surprised.

"But then why –"

"I know," he said, looking back out to sea. "Then why do I stay? Why do I not seek companionship of a higher quality? Why do I not seek a friend?"

Miko looked at Megatron intently. His eyes narrowed.

"I have a purpose, girl. I am to lead the Mighty Decepticon Empire. That makes me important. That makes me special. Emperors have no friends. Conquerors have no friends. Weaklings have friends. Autobots have friends. They are not important. They are a liability. They are not special. They are worthless."

"You are not worthless. You are my friend."

"No. I am not. I do not seek friends. I do not find friends. "

"Why?" Miko asked.

"Because I am a Decepticon, for one. I fight and lead. I seek to control. And if I fall, I am not fit to lead. I will fall, sometime. Hopefully, not today."

Megatron stood.

"Because I am not a weakling, for two. Nor an Autobot, those simpering do nothing hypocrites. They are worthless."

Megatron opened his chest and located a small flashing button.

"And because the Decepticons, the 'friends' I have…until I do prove my worth until the galaxy is mine to command, they are what I deserve."

Megatron pressed the button and his eyes glowed brightly as a blast of energy shot outwards. He was thrown back, landing hard, his head crooked to the side.

"Megatron!"

Miko ran to Megatron's side.

"Megatron?"

He smiled.

"I am fine, fleshling. Earth girl."

"But…"

"By my guess you have about ten or twenty minutes until Starscream, Astrotrain or one of my other numb skulls is here to haul my carcass back to head quarters for repairs."

"But…"

"They will kill you."

Miko sat. Minutes passed.

"I can kill you, earth girl," Megatron said. He looked over at her. "But only me. Let it not be said that Lord Megatron is without mercy. Mercy in its place, at my discretion. If only on a whim."

The two sat in further silence until Megatron spoke again.

"Go now," he said. "My 'friends' are not friendly. Tell no one of our interaction and get on with your small, human life."

Miko was crying. She made her right hand into a small fist and brought it down on Megatron's head.

"I hate you!"

Megatron was surprised.

She hit him again.

"I thought we could be friends and now you are leaving! I hate you Megatron!"

Miko stood and ran up the beach, to where the sand ended and the grass began.

"I hate you and I never liked you and I never want to see you and you are mean!"

Megatron smiled.

"Perhaps I was wrong about you," he said. "Perhaps we are friends in just the same way I am 'friends' with Starscream."

Miko threw a rock that fell very short then ran away, out of Megatron's vision.

"Good bye…Miko," he said quietly. The he whispered: "friend". His eyes flickered and went dark.

. . .

"Megatron?" he heard in the blackness.

"Miko?" he said, feeling cold steel beneath him.

"Miko?" Starscream said, looking up at Soundwave. "He must be even more scrambled than we thought. Our 'Mighty Leader"."

Megatron's eyes flashed on and he took it in all at once: he was inside Astrotrain with Soundwave and Starscream, no longer on the island. He looked down to his wound and it already had a life tube hooked up to a med station in Astrotrain. His power level: 32%. He smiled. Then frowned.

"Where are we?" he growled.

Starscream turned away and spoke.

"Flying you home, Mighty Megatron."

Megatron stood, strode over to Starscream and struck him in the back of the head, knocking him down.

"No, you fool! Where did you find me? The island I was on – where is it?"

Starscream had already spun and held his laser on Megatron. Quickly, he put it down.

"What island?" he said.

"The island!" Megatron bellowed, turning and pointing. "The island where you found me!"

Soundwave hesitated, looked at Starscream, then spoke.

"Megatron, there was no island," he said.

Megatron looked back and forth.

"But…then where did you find me?" he asked.

"You fell in battle, Lord Megatron," Starscream stood and explained. "With the Autobots. We were nowhere near an island."

"Then what of —" Megatron was at a loss. He saw his wound but what evidence of the island? There was no sand on his body. But his memories…he knew he had been on the island with the girl. He had just said her name!

Starscream walked over and put his arm around Megatron.

"Take it easy, Master Megatron. You were severely injured in the battle by the autobots. You need to rest. Confusion is understandable in these circumstances. Here – lie in this restoration chamber."

Megatron allowed himself to be led and did lie down. Could he have imagined the whole thing?

"But—" he began and was interrupted.

"Soundwave and I will explain this all later, Megatron. For now, it's important that you heal."

"Yes,"Astrotrain's voice cut through. "We will be back at headquarters very shortly. Please resume the healing regimen, Megatron. It will heal your body and clear your mind."

"There," Starscream said, extending a wire from the restoration console to Megatron's arm. "I am going to turn on stasis now, Megatron. It will put all your systems in sleep mode for faster healing. It's for your own good."

Starscream flipped the switch and Megatron felt the command enter his system, his body. To slow down to heal, to lose consciousness. Could he fight it?

Starscream turned away and walked with Soundwave. Megatron would fight it. He powered off his optics, but fought with all his strength to listen in…to understand what was happening. And he had a thought.

"You will tell him nothing, Soundwave!" Starscream said. "When one day I rule the Mighty Decpticon Empire, YOU will be my second in command. Just because I failed this time does NOT mean I will again."

Soundwave shook his head but said nothing. Megatron reached up to his head and felt around. His hand came against something sticky. He pulled and tore something loose. As he brought it around to his vision, he recognized it: silver tape.

"Astrotrain," Megatron whispered.

"Yes, Megatron," Astortrain answered, equally as quiet.

"Beam me the video of where you located me, where you found me – I would know the truth."

"But, Megatron—"

Instead of a threat, Megatron interrupted in a very different way than was his custom.

"I could offer you riches or power or more than whatever Starscream has bribed you with, Astrotrain. But I will not. I am weary. Perhaps worlds weary."

He stopped.

"I will not invoke friendship or loyalty, I will simply ask: will you beam me the footage of my rescue? Relay to me your visuals of the encounter, Astrotrain. Please."

There was a slight pause and then a low fidelity visual stream came through the healing lifeline tube of Astrotrain's point of view.

First, he glimpsed Starscream blind-side him and gnaw away his torso with a plasma torch. Astrotrain had been there, even then. Starscream then cracked Megatron's head and inserted some kind of device, hoping to extract information. Starscream then was pacing, ranting and raving, then hurling Megatron's body into the Ocean. Why was Astrotrain showing all of this? Implicating even himself? Next the footage jumped to Astrotrain landing on the beach, with Soundwave and Starscream eyeing Megatron's lifeless body. Soundwave was holding his weapon on Starscream while Astrotrain transformed and Starscream begrudgingly dragged Megatron on board. Then they took off and it was not much longer when Megatron awoke.

So a sort of assassination/power grab by Starscream that had failed. Or just simply brutality and incompetence in the quest for some piece of information? Thwarted by Soundwave? By Astrotrain? Were they in it from the beginning and then got cold feet? Or had they stumbled upon Starscream and simply gone along? Was Astrotrain showing ALL the footage?

"Megatron," Astrotrain began, "I am sorry—"

"Enough," Megatron said. "I only need to see one last thing. Show me the footage of the island as you flew away." He needed to know if the girl had been there. Had Astrotrain, Soundwave or Starscream seen the girl?

"Megatron, I do not have footage of that."

Megatron sighed. So he would not know if Miko was there. If she escaped, if she were hurt…

"No," Megatron said grimly.

"What?" Astrotrain asked.

"NO!" Megatron pulled the lifeline loose, bolted upright, and was towering over Starscream in seconds.

"Megatron!" Starscream screamed. "No! It was Soundwave! He did it all! Soundwave!"

"Shut up," Megatron said. "This will hurt."

Narrowing his beam to a micron, Megatron drilled a hole into Starscream's temple and snaked the lifeline in to gain access to his memory. Lightning swift, he searched and found just what he wanted – Starscream walking onto the beach. He saw what Starscream saw and fast forwarded it to leaving the beach, boarding Astrotrain. From there, he got exactly what he wanted: Starscream looking down from Astrotrain, scanning the horizon and for a millisecond catching a person, standing on the beach, waving their arms. Starscream paid it no attention but playing it back, Megatron zoomed in, scrutinized that tiny figure. It was Miko. She was waving her arms. She was crying. And shouting. "Come back!" she said. "Megatron, come back!"

Megatron stopped for a moment. Starscream was frozen in terror and Soundwave was confused.

"You know, Starscream, maybe I do deserve better than you and maybe not," he said. He heated up his cannon again.

"But you definitely deserve to relive this memory over and over…" Megatron fired a million tiny separate shots that hit every possible part of Starscream's body. Starscream's eyes exploded out as Megatron threw him into the healing chamber, knocking it over. He wasn't dead but the road to repair would be as long and miserable as Megatron could make it. He stood tall and looked at Soundwave.

"He won't remember that island or what he did to me," Megatron said. "Only the pain I have just now blessed him with."

Megatron walked forward and put his arm on Soundwave's shoulder.

"Are we friends, Soundwave?"

Megatron waited exactly 1 millisecond before powering up his cannon to perform the same laser surgery on Soundwave, to remove the entire encounter from his memory. Instead of blowing out all Soundwave's circuits, this time Megatron simply shorted his brain out and deactivated him. He'd turn him back on later. Sometime later.

With the second task done, he spoke to Astrotrain.

"Land, Astrotrain."

"But…"

"LAND."

Astrotrain quickly located a landing spot and landed. He transformed and Megatron took his memory of the recent events as well. When done, he shot both of Astrotrain's legs, then clubbed him over the head, knocking him unconscious. He radioed headquarters and Rumble answered.

"Yeah, wadda ya want boss?" the small blue robot said. "Where you been?"

"Astrotrain, Soundwave and Starscream have been wounded in battle, Rumble. Send me some assistance to these coordinates."

"You got it boss. Be right there."

Megatron looked around. It was not a small island this time. He checked his internal coordinates and identified: Australia. Which meant Miko's island was…he did not know. He hadn't pulled the coordinates from Astrotrain before the memory wipe and his own internal systems had been so badly damaged when he was there that he had not recorded it himself. So, Miko and her island were gone for good. Megatron smiled. He knew that if he did have a friend, that friend would be far better off remaining unknown to his Decepticon 'comrades'. Of course, it didn't matter anyway, because Megatron was a Decepticon and Decepticons did not have friends.

As he looked up into the sky, he saw Dirge, Ramjet and Thrust approaching for rescue. What Starscream had done would be done again. If not by this Starscream then by the next Starscream. He'd attack, search for information, search for weakness to exploit. Knowledge is power. He would not give up. The name didn't matter, the role did. One Megatron would be the same as another, one Starscream the same as the other. So while Starscream could not change who he was, neither could Megatron. As for the island and what happened there, Starscream would kill the girl if he knew. He would use her to embarrass Megatron, who did not kill the girl. He would twist it into Megatron's gut, mocking him, jeering. He would use it in any way he could to be cruel, to dominate and insult, to manipulate, to control. Megatron sighed. Could they change? Was there another way? It was an idea for another day.

Megatron pulled up any and all references to Miko, to the island and to the recent events. He cued a system delete. The thought surfaced in his mind: what did this make him? He had no answer. Simultaneous with the delete execution, Megatron spoke his last words on the subject.

"Goodbye, Miko, my friend."

And as Dirge approached, he wondered who Miko was.

THE END


End file.
